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Who is SSI?

The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College publishes national security and strategic research and analysis which serves to influence policy debate and bridge the gap between Military and Academia.

Publications Tagged: narcotics

What kind of military will the nation need in the future--and at what cost? The war on terror and the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced upon this country soaring defense budgets and unprecedented challenges in policymaking.

At a time when counterinsurgency is again widely discussed, embattled Colombia has implemented a Democratic Security and Defense Policy that shows every sign of success against a complex narco-insurgency that has raged for four decades. The strategic initiative has been seized by acting upon the principle that personal security is the basis for state vitality.

The U.S. effort to reconstitute Afghanistan as a fully sovereign and functioning state is endangered by endemic warlordism more so than the low-level Taliban/al Qaeda insurgency. LTC Millen offers a shift in strategy that addresses the war of ideas, the counter narcotics initiative, and the incorporation of the Afghan National Army into the provincial reconstruction teams. As LTC Millen observes, all the resources are in place, they simply need a shift in focus.

Examines the strategic theory within Plan Colombia, the master plan which the government of Colombia developed to strengthen democracy through peace, security, and economic development. Recommends that the United States and the world community assist Colombia, but the sacrifices must be made collectively by Colombians.

Of the papers presented at the meeting, the one that struck closest to the concerns of the U.S. Army was "The Mexican Military Approaches the 21st Century: Coping with a New World Order" by Lieutenant Colonel Stephen J. Wager of the U.S. Military Academy. His discussion of the roles and missions of the Mexican armed forces has special salience in this era of "alternative missions." Here is a classic case of a military institution whose principal missions of civic action and counternarcotics are those with which our own Army has had to deal in recent years.